Minnesota Session Laws - 1990, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1990 

                        CHAPTER 483-S.F.No. 1821 
           An act relating to nursing; allowing nurse 
          practitioners to prescribe and administer drugs and 
          therapeutic devices; authorizing the board of nursing 
          to adopt rules; establishing an interim filing 
          requirement; appropriating money; amending Minnesota 
          Statutes 1989 Supplement, section 148.171; proposing 
          coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 148. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1989 Supplement, section 
148.171, is amended to read: 
    148.171 [DEFINITIONS.] 
    Sections 148.171 to 148.285 shall be referred to as the 
Minnesota nurse practice act. 
    As used in sections 148.171 to 148.285: 
    (1) "Board" means the Minnesota board of nursing. 
    (2) "Registered Nurse," abbreviated R.N., means an 
individual licensed by the board to practice professional 
nursing.  
    (3) The practice of professional nursing means the 
performance for compensation or personal profit of the 
professional interpersonal service of:  (a) providing a nursing 
assessment of the actual or potential health needs of 
individuals, families, or communities; (b) providing nursing 
care supportive to or restorative of life by functions such as 
skilled ministration of nursing care, supervising and teaching 
nursing personnel, health teaching and counseling, case finding, 
and referral to other health resources; and (c) evaluating these 
actions.  
    The practice of professional nursing includes both 
independent nursing functions and delegated medical functions 
which may be performed in collaboration with other health team 
members, or may be delegated by the professional nurse to other 
nursing personnel.  Independent nursing function may also be 
performed autonomously.  The practice of professional nursing 
requires that level of special education, knowledge, and skill 
ordinarily expected of an individual who has completed an 
approved professional nursing education program as described in 
section 148.211, subdivision 1.  A registered nurse who has 
graduated from a program of study designed to prepare registered 
nurses for advanced practice as nurse-midwives and who is 
certified through the national professional nursing organization 
for nurse-midwives may prescribe and administer drugs and 
therapeutic devices within practice as a nurse-midwife. 
    (4) "Licensed practical nurse," abbreviated L.P.N., means 
an individual licensed by the board to practice practical 
nursing. 
    (5) The practice of practical nursing means the performance 
for compensation or personal profit of any of those services in 
observing and caring for the ill, injured, or infirm, in 
applying counsel and procedure to safeguard life and health, in 
administering medication and treatment prescribed by a licensed 
health professional, which are commonly performed by licensed 
practical nurses and which require specialized knowledge and 
skill such as are taught or acquired in an approved school of 
practical nursing, but which do not require the specialized 
education, knowledge, and skill of a registered nurse. 
     (6) "Nurse" means registered nurse and licensed practical 
nurse unless the context clearly refers to only one category. 
     (7) "Nursing assistant" means an individual providing 
nursing or nursing-related services that do not require the 
specialized knowledge and skill of a nurse, at the direction of 
a nurse, but does not include a licensed health professional or 
an individual who volunteers to provide such services without 
monetary compensation. 
     (8) "Public health nurse" means a registered nurse who 
meets the voluntary registration requirements established by the 
board by rule.  
     Sec. 2.  [148.235] [PRESCRIBING DRUGS AND THERAPEUTIC 
DEVICES.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [NURSE-MIDWIVES.] A registered nurse who 
has graduated from a program of study designed to prepare 
registered nurses for advanced practice as nurse-midwives and 
who is certified through the national professional nursing 
organization for nurse-midwives may prescribe and administer 
drugs and therapeutic devices within practice as a nurse-midwife.
    Subd. 2.  [NURSE PRACTITIONERS.] (a) [PRESCRIBING 
AUTHORITY.] A registered nurse who (1) has graduated from a 
program of study designed to prepare registered nurses for 
advanced practice as nurse practitioners, (2) is certified 
through a national professional nursing organization which 
certifies nurse practitioners and is included in the list of 
professional nursing organizations adopted by the board under 
section 62A.15, subdivision 3a, and (3) has a written agreement 
with a physician based on standards established by the Minnesota 
nurses association and the Minnesota medical association that 
defines the delegated responsibilities related to the 
prescription of drugs and therapeutic devices, may prescribe and 
administer drugs and therapeutic devices within the scope of the 
written agreement and within practice as a nurse practitioner.  
    (b) [RULES.] By July 1, 1991, the board shall promulgate 
rules to provide for the following:  
    (1) a system of identifying nurse practitioners eligible to 
prescribe drugs and therapeutic devices; 
    (2) a method of determining which general categories of 
prescription drugs and therapeutic devices have been delegated 
to each nurse practitioner; 
    (3) a system of transmitting to pharmacists information 
concerning nurse practitioners eligible to prescribe drugs and 
therapeutic devices and the types of drugs and therapeutic 
devices they have been delegated the authority to prescribe; and 
    (4) a fee to the nurse practitioner who seeks prescribing 
authority in an amount sufficient to cover the board's ongoing 
costs relating to monitoring and regulating the prescribing 
authority of nurse practitioners.  
    (c) [TASK FORCE.] For purposes of adopting rules under this 
paragraph, the board shall establish and appoint an advisory 
task force composed of the following nine members:  
    (1) five nurse practitioners; 
    (2) two pharmacists; and 
    (3) two physicians.  
    Members must be appointed from lists of qualified persons 
nominated by the appropriate professional associations.  The 
task force shall recommend rules to the board on each of the 
subjects listed above.  No rule relating to the prescribing of 
drugs and therapeutic devices by nurse practitioners may be 
proposed by the board unless it was first submitted to the task 
force for review and comment.  
    Sec. 3.  [INTERIM FILING REQUIREMENT.] 
    A nurse practitioner may not prescribe or administer drugs 
or therapeutic devices after August 1, 1990, unless the nurse 
practitioner satisfies the requirements in section 2, 
subdivision 2, paragraph (a), and has filed with the board of 
nursing the nurse practitioner's name, home and business 
address, home and business telephone number, and other 
information requested by the board.  These filings must be made 
available to the board of pharmacy for distribution to 
pharmacies. 
    Sec. 4.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
    $23,000 is appropriated from the state special revenue fund 
to the board of nursing for the fiscal year ending June 30, 
1991, to administer sections 1 to 3. 
    Presented to the governor April 24, 1990 
    Signed by the governor April 24, 1990, 9:20 p.m.